Beyond The Battles

Louis de Bernières’ new book considers the cost of surviving a world war

- Bruce Dennill

So Much Life Left Over looks at the lives and loves of survivors of World War One, but positioning them, in a way, as further casualties of that conflict. It’s an interesting perspective…

Louis de Bernières I originally came up with the concept by looking at my parents, who went through World War Two. I remember thinking to myself, ‘How did they get through that?’ It’s a deeply melancholic scenario. My father said he spent most of his life working for charities as a way to remind himself and others of what was important, but I don’t know if I believed him.

At the end of World War One, politicians were promising a better world for everyone to live in. For a while, things were okay, but there were plenty of areas in which people were let down. My grandfather was maimed, and there was never any compensation, for instance.

The emotional experiences the characters go through also speak to what contemporary readers can understand, whether or not they’ve ever been anywhere near a war. There is, for example, family-related hurt that your protagonists experience that is incredibly relatable.